Press Releases

Ambassador Sally Cowal Elected to 2016-2018 UICC Board of Directors

Cowal Serves as the Vice President of Global Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society

WASHINGTON D.C. – Ambassador Sally Cowal, Senior Vice President of Global Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society, was elected to the 2016-2018 Board of Directors of the Switzerland-based Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The election took place November 1, 2016 at the World Cancer Congress in Paris.

UICC is the largest and oldest international cancer organization, founded in 1933 to help the global health community accelerate the fight against cancer. UICC's membership base of more than 1,000 organizations across 162 countries represents the world's major cancer societies, ministries of health, research and treatment institutes and patient groups, and includes influential policy makers, researchers, and experts in cancer prevention and control.

As a member of the UICC Board of Directors, Ambassador Cowal will represent the membership and provide strategic direction to the organization over the next two years (2016-2018). These responsibilities will be supplemental to her role at the American Cancer Society.

Ambassador Cowals’ credentials are far-reaching in global health, including experience as U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago; her leadership in co-founding UNAIDS; and her time as chief development officer for Population Services International (PSI), a nonprofit organization serving 65 developing countries to improve the lives and health of poor and vulnerable people. She has worked across all sectors and on six continents to solve some of the world's most challenging problems, and since 2013 has been applying that experience to her work to free the world from the pain and suffering of cancer.

In a statement announcing her candidacy, Ambassador Cowal wrote: "I believe that we are at a pivotal time in global cancer control. Low- and middle-income countries are especially unprepared for the tsunami of cancer, which is already hitting their people, economies, and health systems. I believe that just as cancer knows no boundaries, neither should the fight against it." In response to her election, Ambassador Cowal says, “I am honored to be chosen and ready to get to work.”

UICC is dedicated to taking the lead in convening, capacity building and advocacy initiatives that unite the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, promote greater equity, and integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda.

Like UICC, the American Cancer Society’s global health team is focused on preventing cancer, saving lives, diminishing suffering, catalyzing a local response in the countries where we work, and shaping the global policy agenda. To learn more, visit cancer.org/global.